Lorde's poem is an excellent example of how she leftan author leaving her poem open to be understood in different ways by her readers. To begin, she did not subject her readers to just one theme or lesson of the poem. In "Hanging Fire" we are introduced to a fourteen-year-old girl's stream of consciousness and turbulencesthe turbulences she is "experienc[ing]." The poem communicates the themes of innocence, coming of age, and experience through the figurative languageslanguage that the poem uses, such as repetition and imagery. The speaker of the poem deals with three issues; loneliness, fear, and helplessness, which ties back to what she is experiencing,; coming of age and her innocence as a fourteen-year-old girl dealing with serious problems. A significant aspect of the poem that stands out is the repetition "and momma's in the bedroom with the door closed" (Lorde 10-11). This line is one of the most significant lines in the poem because it emphasizes the speaker's loneliness and isolation from her mother. The speaker in the poem is facing many struggles, which startsstart as typical as teenage problems, such as her physical appearance, braces, and middle school dances. However, the tone of the poem shiftedshifts dramatically to foreboding and anxiety as we see that she is having bigger issues than just how she looks. She begins to worry about death a lot by thinking "what if I die before morningmorning?" (Lorde 8-9), "suppose I die before graduationgraduation?" (Lorde 15), and "will I live long enough to grow upup?" (Lorde 32-33). As can be seen, death is something that is lingeringlingers around in her mind a lot. Throughout her endless thinking about life and death, her mother does nothing to help her or showsshow any affections towards her.